Grounding clamps may be used to attach grounding conductors to various types of pipes, conduit, grounding rods, or other structures in many types of grounding applications.
In one implementation, a grounding clamp may include a body that includes a bottom half and a top half. The body halves may be held together by a pair of threaded fasteners on opposing sides of the two body halves. A first side (the “pivot side”) of the clamp body may function as a pivot point such that the top half may swing relative to the bottom half so that the clamp may open to be attached to a structure. To attach the grounding clamp to a structure such as a pipe, the threaded fasteners on each end of the body halves may be adjusted until the top half and bottom half can fit around the pipe. The clamp may be swung closed such that the top half pivots about the pivot side until a hook in the second side of the top half engages the threaded fastener on the second side. The two threaded fasteners may then be tightened down until the clamp body applies a desired amount of force on the pipe to keep the clamp in place.
Installation of the aforementioned grounding clamp is inefficient for a number of reasons. First of all, installation can be time consuming because an installer has to adjust the two threaded fasteners so that there is enough space between the top half and bottom half of the clamp for the clamp to be swung closed over a pipe. This may take numerous trial and error attempts by the installer until a sufficient amount of space between the halves is achieved. Once the clamp is over the pipe, the installer has to alternate between tightening down the two threaded fasteners in equal increments so that clamping force is applied evenly to the pipe on both sides.
Another difficulty in installing the aforementioned grounding clamp is that installation typically requires a two-hands to perform. This makes installation difficult in tight installation environments or environments where the installer does not have a good line of sight to the installation point. For example, the installer may be installing a grounding conductor jumper between two pipes near a smart water meter, which may be in a tight space in a house or submerged in a drainage basin.
Moreover, there is no way to determine the amount of torque applied to the fasteners that come with the grounding clamp without the use of a specialized torque-controlled driver. This requires the installer to carry specialized tools to the jobsite and adds another element to which the installer must focus attention to during installation.